One World: Altamira
by Tsundere-Kun
Summary: The Journey's done & Lloyd has decided to a short vacation... WARNING: SPOILERS! DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU'VE FINISHED THE GAME ONCE OR DON'T CARE ABOUT DISCOVERING FACTS YOU DON'T ALREADY KNOW! Find out for yourself why don't you? FLUFFINESS!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Well, until we meet again." The speaker's eyes met with a pair of chocolate ones. The elder male wore the classic black dress clothes: dress slacks, suit jacket along with a ruffled white dress shirt. With his long light blue hair was tied back as not to get much in his way, the man's overall appearance could be said to be "well put together".

The young man to whom he spoke nodded, his spiky brown hair shifting slightly in the wind. "Thanks again for all your help, Regal." He grinned stupidly like he usually did when he was happy, a hand rising to scratch the back of his neck. The younger's actions made Regal chuckle, bringing back memories of not too long ago. "You know some times, it's like. . .I really do have an awesome family."

Regal rose an eyebrow at his friend's comment, although much more elegantly than another might have. "Dirk is obviously in there, Kratos as well, but who, may I ask, would be otherwise included that is present?"

"We-well, never mind that. I just accidently blurted out nonsense without thinking. I'm sorry, Regal." The brunette bid his companion farewell, but then paused and turned back to face him. A small blush appeared on the boy's cheeks. "C-could I, maybe, uh. . ."

Regal nodded confidently, a hand coming up to rest on the boy's shoulder, a smile gracing his features. "Of course. My friends are always welcome in Altamira. You should know that." Although he chose words that seemed to be words to chide the young man, the way he spoke and the tone of his voice held nothing of the sort. His words were just a simple reminder. "Would you like an escort or will the great Hero of Regeneration that you are be fine alone?" The bluenette's words suddenly took on an air of slight mocking.

With a nod and other silly grin, the younger human male started off for Altamira's grand hotel. His actions, unknown to him, were being watched by two pairs of eyes. One set were Regal's, kind and only hoping to make sure the boy did indeed make it to the building without any mishaps, and surprisingly the owner of the other set wished for the same. This pair held the shade of blood-soaked earth. Regal heard a murmured statement of gratitude, to which only one short response was spoken by the noble man: "You can not run from him forever."

* * *

Inside the hotel lobby, the brunette traveler stood before the front desk, a hand momentarily leaving the top of one of his two blades to receive a room key. He then strode to his right, directly over to the pair of elevators. Before the warrior stepped inside one, he paused. _Regal's changed this place for the better, huh? _When the Regeneration Hero entered the elevator, the current resident shifted to make room for him. Her eyes never wavering from the ruby dressed male, the expression on her face slightly expectant of him. "Oh, um, floor fourteen please, Miss."

"Yes, Sir." The female's clothes were a formal, navy uniform with a pure white bow just below the sternum and matching skirt that just barely touched the elevator floor.

However, he barely noticed due to a mental distraction. As the male rode the elevator, his chocolate orbs watched each number light up then go dark as the one after it copied it. _Hm…wait, why'd it go from twelve to fourteen? Isn't there a number between those two, like, thirteen? _Then it hit him: Regal was superstitious.

"Sir, pardon me but you're at the floor you requested."

Nodding, he thanked the woman absent-mindedly on the way to his room. Upon closing the door behind him, the male strode over to his bed. He released both of his swords from his sides and rested them against the bedside table before lazily flopping down onto the bed. "Lloyd…"

"Huh?" The brunette sat up quickly, looking around his room. "Did…someone call my name?" _Is this some kind of déjà vu? I remember someone calling me like this back in Flanoir._

"Lloyd."

Lloyd stood, rotating three-hundred and sixty degrees from where he was at a slow yet steady pace. _Couldn't be, but that did kinda sound like him._ "Kr-Kratos?" Sounds of movement outside his bedroom caused the warrior to dash over to the door and open it. Although to his disappointment, the noise he had heard belonged to the maid cleaning halfway down from him. The male sighed, closing the door again with him inside.

As he stared out the window, Lloyd saw the lights along the sides of the street burst into life: two by two. Night had finally fallen after such a long, strenuous day of paperwork and thinking. "Couldn't have bee him anyway," he muttered, the disappointment still hanging like a rain cloud over him. "Kratos left with Derris Kharlan. I saw it myself." His chocolate eyes noted each lamp as it began to shine down on the ground, reminding Lloyd somewhat of what Kratos' wings did when they were not being hidden from the general public. "Dad can't be here in Altamira."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Garnet orbs reflected the moonlight as their owner stood, leaning against the glass windows. This figure remained still as a battle continued to go on within his mind. Should he awaken the young man before him or just take off and never cross the other's path ever again. The latter appealed very much to this particular shadowed man.

"Look at that one, Dad."

Immediately those eyes flashed to the brunette asleep on his bed. It disturbed him, even now, for his only son to call him Dad. Only faintly did the thought of what Lloyd's dream involved cross his mind. The purple-clad male twitched as he watched his son roll over onto this side, unintentionally facing the other. "Lloydan, it's good to see you again," he murmured to himself.

Although not many things can distract this particular former mercenary, one thing that could was his family. Regretfully, he recalled a long friend of his mentioning so once or twice to get on his nerves. But anyway, because of this distraction, the auburn-haired man didn't notice a set of chocolate eyes slowly arising from sleep. "D-dad?" They flew the rest of the way open, their owner's chest rising from the bed to get a better look at the odd apparition of his father.

"Lloyd, I…I'm sorry."

The younger male's eyes widened. "Wh-what are you apologizing for? Dad, you're—" he paused, for it wasn't everyday the mercenary cringed after hearing a simple a term as "dad". "Oh, sorry. Why're you apologizing, Kratos? You're here, which is great, so what's there to be sorry about?"

Dark eyes couldn't bear to look those of his son's directly, so they settled for the young swordsman's forehead. "For all I did to harm you and your friends. Believe it or not I, too, had those at your age, Lloyd."

Lloyd's trademark silly grin crept onto his face at the last thought. "Really? Who were they? What were they like? Were they all humans like us?"

"None of my real friends were human, actually. Back then, during the war, the humans only cared about social status and formalities." Feeling the conversation could take quite a while, Kratos settled down on the edge of the bed beside Lloyd before continuing to answer his son's questions. "As for my true friends, all three of them were half-elves…If you hadn't insisted on clinging to the Chosen like you did I have no doubt you wouldn't have met any of them."

That startled the boy, for he was one compared to his four-thousand some old father. "Wait, we met your friends? But I thought half-elves only live for a few…are your friends angels of Cruxis too?" Kratos nodded solemnly once, deciding to remain silent. "Really? Who?" Neither spoke, the angelic male silently wishing his son would figure it out on his own and the human boy trying his hardest to think about whom he wouldn't have met, that was a Cruxis angel, if he hadn't gone on the Journey of World Regeneration. Unfortunately, he realized he wouldn't have met ANY Cruxis angels what-so-ever if he hadn't gone with Colette. "You mean, like Remiel? Was he one of your—?"

"No. Not Remiel. I scarcely knew of him even while Cruxis was still in operation."

"Oh, then…was Mithos one of your friends? And his sister, Martel?"

The mercenary though for a short moment, the memories of what lying to his son could cause for both of their futures coming to the forefront of his mind. "Yes, they were. Although Mithos changed after his sister died. Yuan did to a certain extent, for similar reasons, but you've met both of them. Decide for yourself which one is or was more sane."

Lloyd stared, dumbfounded, at his old traveling companion. "Yuan and you were friends? How? Why? I thought you two hated each other!"

"We were the best of friends as children…Don't give me that look." His voice took on a tone of slight seriousness when he noticed a shift in the boy's expression, but then it returned to normal as he continued. "I suppose we each had something to gain from our friendship, but that's beside the point now." Surprisingly, Kratos relaxed, leaning back on to his opened palms instead of his usual uptight manner. "He gained someone to teach him reading, writing, and other subjects and…"

Lloyd leaned in closer out of curiosity, wondering how his father could have ever needed help with anything in his life. "And? What did you gain from befriending Yuan?" It was kind of strange to the younger swordsman: talking about the azure-haired half-elf as if the man had never tried to kill him or his father in the past.

_I knew I should have never said anything about this._ "Sadly, a spine."

This confused the boy more than anything else in his entire life. "A…spine? But weren't you born with one?" His eyes told Kratos he spoke truthfully. That he really did not understand what had been said. Silence enveloped the pair once more, Lloyd' brain working overtime as he thought of what his father had said. "Did you not have a spine metaphorically? As in, you couldn't stand up for yourself back then?"

"In a way."

The boy yawned in a way he hoped his father wouldn't notice, for Lloyd really wanted to learn more about the phantom angel in his life. Unfortunately, his body disagreed with the brunette's plans by slowly descending his head onto Kratos' nearby shoulder. "Ah! I-I'm sorry," he apologized, hurriedly sitting up as straight as he could. However, Lloyd felt a gentle hand lower atop his head and slowly guide it back to where it had previously been.

"No, it's fine," the angelic male's voice informed the almost adult. "It's been a while since I've spent time with anyone like this, so please understand."

Lloyd's eyes shifted into the best position they could as he was to get a look at his father. "…What was mom like?" The red swordsman's face light up at Kratos' reaction to his question: a true smile graced the elder's features. _I wonder how long it's been since Dad smiled._

The auburn-haired man caught himself, immediately putting his smile away. "She was like you, actually. You share hair and eye color with her. However, that attitude of your's only reminds me halfway of her's. Your mother light up my existence after a while, yet she didn't quite trust me in the beginning…being one of Cruxis was not something that fell under the good qualities list she kept within her mind." His mouth twitched slightly, inching to smile against his will. "Anna was always the one to antagonize…well, until a point maybe eighteen years ago or so."

Puzzled, Lloyd's lips curved into a confused frown. "Why would Mom change so randomly like that?" Chocolate eyes met garnet ones, then the former one's widened. "She changed because she had me?" The auburn angel nodded once. "Wow…"

"Once we knew you were to be born, Anna's rough attitude reversed itself into a caring mother." A sound like soft sand paper on wood slowly got louder and audible easily permeated throughout the room. "Now that I think about it, she changed like night and day." Kratos paused, a pensive expression taking over the once laughing face. "You take after her more than you know, Lloyd."

"Huh?" The chocolaty spikes wavered as their owner tilted his head to the side. "I do?" His eyelids drooped slightly in disappointment.

Upon noticing said reaction, the purple-clad mercenary shifter to face the human male, his gloved hand resting in concern on a ruby shoulder. "What's the matter?" The pair of garnets narrowed, possibilities of what could be bothering the boy spinning worried webs inside Kratos' head.

Facing his father with his next words proved tougher than he had thought, all of them tumbling from his lips in a flurry of jumbled letters and syllables. The angel requested that Lloyd repeat, but slower. "I-I always hoped I had taken more after my dad, 'cause I remember that the most from when I was a kid. Sure, being as nice as mom is up there too but…I've always looked up to you, Dad." For the first time in his life, Lloyd witnessed a response worthy of signaling apocalyptic circumstances.

Since when the young dual swordsman looked up at his father, Kratos had turned his head away in embarrassment: which clearly showed upon his face with tinges of bright, almost the color of the Chosen of Mana's clothes, pink lighting up his cheeks. "That is not something to say to me at this time, Lloyd." The odd shade slowly went back into hiding, but only for a moment due to the boy's laughing and expression of mirth that taunted it back into the brunette's vision. "Lloydan." He tried to sound intimidating and cold despite his appearance, but it just added fuel to Lloyd's laughter. With a sigh, Kratos allowed a small smile to come out and play as well; since his unusual skin tone already amused Lloyd and lightened his mood. "It seems you haven't matured at all these past few years. As such, I suggest you get to sleep. It's past your bedtime." For some reason, those words felt quite strange to Kratos' lips as well as Lloyd's ears.

The brunette's mouth opened quickly in order to retort with a comment like "I don't have a bedtime", but instead his voice's reply came out timid and respectful. "O-okay, D-Kratos." Lloyd settled down and lay on his back, drawing the covers around his frame. His father's gentle expression was the final image that met his chocolate eyes before he fell asleep that night, only to awaken to be the only one in the room the next morning. With a sigh, the boy roused himself out of bed. : I guess he didn't want to stay around in a place like this…fun never did seem to suit Dad."

A door swung open and closed, both almost silently, only moments later. "Good morning, Lloyd." In the hands of the arrival was a tray of food, filled with Lloyd's favorites: meaning no tomatoes at all.

Brown eyes widened immensely, but a slight tingle of amusement glittered within them as well at the sight of his father carrying breakfast like a servant. "What has happened that's changed you so much, Kratos?"

With a small shrug, the auburn male traversed to his son's side. "Not many get this chance to start again, Lloydan. For this reason a chance like mine is special." Lloyd stared at his father for a moment, allowing him to say whatever he wanted to for the time being. "As you may know, family has never really been a good aspect of my life."

"Then is that why you don't like me calling you 'dad'? Because of your own father?"

Kratos nodded, gesturing to the bountiful tray sitting between them. "Just leave it at that for now and eat."


End file.
